Written Answers Thursday 1 March 2007

Scottish Executive

Bridges

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15739 by Nicol Stephen on 26 April 2005, whether the name of any minister was included on the statutory statement and, if so, which minister.

Tavish Scott: No.

Bridges

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15739 by Nicol Stephen on 26 April 2005, whether the answer indicates that a mandatory ministerial statement can be made anonymously.

Tavish Scott: No. The Assignation Statement was made by the then Secretary of State for Scotland.

Bridges

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23221 by Tavish Scott on 13 March 2006, whether the provision of the Invergarry-Kyle of Lochalsh Trunk Road (A87) Extension (Skye Bridge Crossing) Special Road Scheme Order 1992 (SI 1992/1499) which prescribes use by all classes of traffic, and which is not addressed in the 1995 Regulations, still applies following revocation of the A87 Skye Bridge Crossing Toll Order.

Tavish Scott: Yes. The Invergarry-Kyle of Lochalsh Trunk Road (A87) Extension (Skye Bridge Crossing) Toll Order (Revocation) Order 2005 does not affect the 1992 Special Road Scheme Order. The classes of traffic prescribed by the Order therefore still apply.

Bridges

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost was of the A87 Skye Crossing special road scheme as outlined in Schedule 1(7) of the Special Roads and Trunk Roads (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1985 (SI 1985/1165 (S.92)).

Tavish Scott: By virtue of regulation 5 of the 1985 Regulations, Schedule 1 of those 1985 Regulations applies only to schemes submitted by local roads authorities to the Secretary of State for confirmation. The Skye Bridge crossing scheme was promoted by the then Secretary of State for Scotland and did not therefore fall under these provisions.

Dentistry

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to extend the availability of NHS dentistry.

Lewis Macdonald: We are taking further steps to reward those high street dentists who give their patients access to NHS treatment.

  Dentists in deprived areas across Scotland will be invited this week to apply for a deprived area allowance, equivalent to the existing remote area allowance, and worth up to £9,000 per dentist in the current financial year.

  In addition, the practitioner commitment payments, paid to any dentist earning over £25,750 from NHS work, will be increased by 25% from 1 April 2007 and new measures are being put in place to protect enhanced payments for NHS-committed practices, who fall short of the criteria for these payments for a single quarter but seek to address this by registering new NHS patients.

Economy

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the gross domestic product would be in Scotland (a) in total and (b) per capita had the growth of the Scottish economy matched that of the United Kingdom since May (a) 1997 and (b) 1999.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive cannot provide estimates of GDP changes from a particular month, as requested, as data are not collected on a monthly basis. Annual GVA (gross value added) figures are available on the Office for National Statistics website using the following link:  http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=14650 .

Environment

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to address the concerns of residents in town centres who suffer from high levels of noise pollution.

Sarah Boyack: The EC Environmental Noise Directive requires us to provide the European Commission with an estimate of the number of people living in dwellings exposed to different levels of ambient noise from certain conurbations and transport sources, both within and outwith town centres. This information will be obtained through a strategic mapping exercise and will form the basis for action plans designed to manage noise issues and effects, including noise reduction if necessary.

Ferry Services

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is certain that the tender process for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry service is compliant with EU legislation.

Tavish Scott: Our key priority is that there should be no disruption to the lifeline Clyde and Hebrides ferry services. The services are being tendered in a way that is fully compliant with EU legislation.

Ferry Services

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of any problems encountered in the current tender process for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry service, it will ensure that the tender process is not repeated in this manner in future.

Tavish Scott: A key priority for any ferry tendering process is that there should be no disruption to the lifeline Clyde and Hebrides services. The current tender exercise, as with all such projects, will be reviewed on completion.

Football

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with local authorities to create a co-ordinated programme to improve the quality of football pitches and changing facilities in response to concerns illustrated by the march to the Parliament on 14 February 2007.

Patricia Ferguson: The report of the national audit of local sports facilities published by sportscotland in June 2006 highlighted the need for local authorities to prepare facility strategies. Future investment will be determined on the basis of these and associated playing field and sports pitch strategies.

  In addition, sportscotland’s Building for Sport programme is available to local authorities and others to help improve the quality of football pitches and associated changing accommodation.

Freight

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to support short sea shipping services as a means to reduce road congestion by heavy freight vehicles.

Tavish Scott: We will continue to encourage coastal and short sea shipping services through the Freight Facilities and Waterborne Freight Grant schemes. These have supported projects which have removed over 15 million lorry miles from our roads since 1999.

Freight

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage the transportation of freight by rail between Perth and Inverness.

Tavish Scott: We are committed to encouraging modal shift of freight from roads to rail across Scotland and operate three rail freight grant schemes to achieve this aim. Since 1999, this policy has removed over 5 million lorry miles from the A9 corridor.

  Our project to deliver gauge enhancement from Mossend to Elgin via Perth will allow for larger freight containers to be transported by rail. We estimate that this will remove 19.8 million vehicle miles from the roads per year.

Higher Education

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with representatives of the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Funding Council regarding the proposed withdrawal of the university from the Crichton Campus in Dumfries.

Nicol Stephen: The Deputy Minister, officials and I have discussed the matter with representatives of the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Funding Council on a number of occasions. Only last week, the Deputy Minister had a discussion with the Chair of the Scottish Funding Council and a meeting with the Principal of the University of Glasgow on 23 February 2007.

Housing

Christine May (Central Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is supporting housing regeneration in central Fife.

Rhona Brankin: We have substantially increased our funding to support affordable housing investment and housing regeneration across Scotland. The central Fife area has benefited from this with Communities Scotland investing around £10 million in the area over the past two years alone. This brings the total funding in the area in the past four years to over £13.5 million which has resulted in 188 new affordable homes being approved for construction.

Local Authority Expenditure

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have used money from their housing revenue accounts to fund services provided by departments other than housing since 2003, also detailing the services that have been funded in this way.

Rhona Brankin: Since 2003 East Lothian, Midlothian, Moray and West Dunbartonshire are the only councils which have reported a transfer of funds from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) to the General Fund. The Executive does not collect information on which specific services were funded from transfers from the HRA.

NHS Waiting Times

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) what the average waiting times, in weeks, have been and (b) how many patients have been waiting for a first appointment in the (i) child dental health, (ii) conservation, (iii) oral medication, (iv) oral surgery, (v) orthodontics, (vi) periodontology and (vii) prosthodontics department in each dental hospital in each quarter since June 1997.

Lewis Macdonald: Information on waiting times and waiting lists for a first out-patient appointment following referral from a general medical or dental practitioner, is collected at specialty level only and not at hospital department level.

  The current national maximum waiting time for a first out-patient appointment at a consultant-led clinic, following referral by a general medical or dental practitioner, is 26 weeks. This commitment is being met by all NHS boards. The national maximum waiting time will be reduced to 18 weeks from the end of this year.

  Median waiting times are derived from continuous retrospective data. To remove the effects of seasonality and to minimise the effects of data shortfalls, rolling annual data has been used to calculate the median waits. Comparable information is available only from the year ended 31 March 1998.

  Median waiting times for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant, following a general medical or dental practitioner referral, at Dundee Dental Hospital, Edinburgh Dental Institute and Glasgow Dental Hospital and School, by dental specialty, and compiled on a rolling annual basis, for the years ending 31 March 1998 to 30 September 2006 have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 42003).

  Dental out-patient waiting list information has only been collected centrally since 31 December 2004. Information on the number of patients waiting for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant, following referral from a general medical or dental practitioner, by dental specialty, at Dundee Dental Hospital on each quarterly census date from 31 December 2004 to 31 March 2006, at Edinburgh Dental Institute on each quarterly census date from 31 December 2004 to 31 December 2006 and at Glasgow Dental Hospital and School on each quarterly census date from 30 September 2005 to 31 December 2006, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 42004).

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints it has received in respect of breaches of prison custody protocols in each year since 1999.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS do not operate custody protocols as described. The management of the prison population is covered in terms of The Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2006.

Public Transport

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for improving bus services across Scotland.

Tavish Scott: An Action Plan for Buses was launched in December 2006 as part of the National Transport Strategy. It sets out actions which will deliver the step change required in the quality of bus services and infrastructure and is the starting point for a major drive on buses over the next few years.

Roads

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering commencing any new road projects in Perth and Kinross.

Tavish Scott: New road projects recently completed, underway or scheduled to be delivered during the current programme in the area of Perth and Kinross Council area are as follows:

  

Road
Scheme Details
Estimated Cost
(£ Million) 
Status


M90
Perth Southern Bypass –  reconstruction of westbound carriageway
2.0
Completed 


M90
Bridge of Earn to Craigend – reconstruction of southbound carriageway
2.1
Underway


M90/A9
M90 Broxden Roundabout and A9 Inveralmond Roundabout improvements (combined scheme)
2.2
Underway


A9
Balhaldie to Greenloaning – reconstruction/refurbishment of the northbound and southbound carriageways
2.6
Underway


A9
Abbey Bridge to Auchterarder reconstruction of the southbound carriageway
1.5
Completed


A9 
Bankfoot – junction improvements and construction of a climbing lane
2.4
Estimated start 2007-08


A9
Kindallachan  - junction  improvements
0.5
Estimated start 2007-08


A9 
Ballinluig – construction of grade separated interchange
14.4
Estimated start 2007-08


A9
Resurfacing of carriageway south of Dalnaspidal
1.0
Completed


A90
Glendoick and Kinfauns grade separated interchanges
14.0
Completed



  In addition, we have recently undertaken a Route Improvement Strategy Study of the A9 from Perth to Blair Atholl which identified £165 million worth of long-term improvement work. Detailed studies are now being carried out on how best to take forward these improvements to the A9 including dualling between Perth and Pitlochry, safe overtaking provision and reconstruction along this environmentally sensitive route.

  Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more information if required.

Roads

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering commencing any new road projects in the area of Angus Council.

Tavish Scott: No new trunk road projects are currently scheduled for the section of the A90 trunk road running through the area of Angus Council.

  Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more information if required.

Schools

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the unitary charge paid out over the lifetime of the current South Ayrshire schools PPP project will be and how much of that cost will be borne by the Executive and South Ayrshire Council respectively.

Hugh Henry: The total cost of the unitary charge over the lifetime of the current South Ayrshire schools PPP project is £348.4 million. This is the cost of both construction, lifecycle maintenance of the asset over 30 years, and lifecycle services related to the property. The Scottish Executive is contributing £129 million in support of the capital costs over the same period with South Ayrshire Council funding the remainder.

Scottish Executive Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any changes have made to the enterprise and lifelong learning budget for 2007-08.

Nicol Stephen: The Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill was laid before Parliament on Thursday 18 January 2007. There have been no changes made to the budget bill since that date. Any changes to the 2007-08 budget that do take place will be made at the next revision of the budget which will be the autumn budget revision in October or November 2007.

Scottish Natural Heritage

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether surplus land owned by Scottish Natural Heritage must be sold to the highest bidder or whether benefits to the community, other than revenue, may be taken into account.

Sarah Boyack: Scottish Natural Heritage is bound by its Management Statement and Financial Memorandum which states that land must be sold for the best price, taking into account any costs of sale, and in accordance with the guidance in the relevant section of the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM).

  Recent changes to the SPFM allow for an "internal advertising" of surplus property to the wider public sector. This provides a mechanism for the transfer – at full market value – of property held within the public sector.

Scottish Natural Heritage

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations relating to the sale of surplus land owned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) would require to be amended to allow factors, other than the size of the bid, to be taken into account in any sale of SNH land.

Sarah Boyack: Scottish Natural Heritage is bound by its Management Statement and Financial Memorandum , and is subject to the requirements of the Scottish Public Finance Manual , which requires that public bodies obtain the best price reasonably available for disposal of any surplus properties.

Sexual Abuse

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31561 by Lewis Macdonald on 14 February 2007, who the members are of the review group.

Lewis Macdonald: The members of the group reviewing the content of the booklet A Can of Worms are representatives of the following organisations:

  Fife Health Board

  British Psychological Society

  Royal College of Psychiatrists

  Health in Mind

  Association of Directors of Social Work

  Scottish Association for Mental Health

  Scottish Executive Mental Health Division

  Scottish Executive Adult Support and Protection Unit

  Scottish Executive National Reference Group on Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse.

Sexual Abuse

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31561 by Lewis Macdonald on 14 February 2007, when a decision will be made as to whether changes are required to improve the booklet, A Can of Worms .

Lewis Macdonald: The review group is continuing, by correspondence, its consideration of the text and any changes to it. The group aims to complete this work as soon as possible.

Sexual Abuse

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31561 by Lewis Macdonald on 14 February 2007, whether the booklet, A Can of Worms , is being distributed in its current form and, if so, to whom.

Lewis Macdonald: The A Can of Worms booklet is not currently being distributed by the Scottish Executive in any form.

Sexual Abuse

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31550 by Lewis Macdonald on 14 February 2007, when it will publish all outstanding minutes of meetings of the Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse Reference Group on its website.

Lewis Macdonald: The notes of each meeting of the National Reference Group are cleared at the subsequent meeting by reference group members, and published on the Scottish Executive website after they have gone through the normal procedures. All minutes of meetings of the National Reference Group to date have been published, with the exception of the note of meeting of 19 January 2007 which requires to be cleared by the group at their next meeting of 27 April. A note of the away day which was held on 27 October 2006 is also available on the website.

Sexual Abuse

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31550 by Lewis Macdonald on 14 February 2007, who is responsible for formally clearing the minutes of meetings of the Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse Reference Group and how long after a meeting it should take to clear such minutes.

Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31837 on 1 March 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Transport

David McLetchie (Edinburgh Pentlands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the principle of road pricing in Scotland.

Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive does not support penalising motorists.

  There will be no Scotland-wide or UK-wide road pricing in the next four years during the lifetime of the next Parliament.

  We will continue to invest in public transport across Scotland to reduce congestion and encourage people out of their cars.

Transport

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to implement road pricing.

Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive has no current plans to implement road pricing. There will be no road pricing in Scotland on a Scotland-wide basis in the next four years of the Parliament.

Transport

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that Scotland should be the pilot for UK road pricing.

Tavish Scott: No.

Transport

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty’s Government about road pricing.

Tavish Scott: I met the Secretary of State for Transport on 6 October 2006 where we discussed road pricing issues. Officials of the Scottish Executive also regularly discuss road pricing issues with officials at the Department for Transport.

Transport

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it could implement a road pricing scheme which involved reductions in vehicle fuel duty and, if so, how.

Tavish Scott: Vehicle fuel duty is a reserved matter.

Transport

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what five subjects were raised most often by members of the public in written correspondence with the Minister for Transport in the last 12 months and how many representations were received in respect of each such subject.

Tavish Scott: The top five subjects between 1 February 2006 and 31 January 2007 were:

  1. Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (987)

  2. Concessionary Fares on Public Transport (463)

  3. A77 Maybole Bypass (189)

  4. Bus Policy (134)

  5. Calmac Ferries (107).

Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether minibuses and vehicles providing airport-to-hotel or other door-to-door services could be required to provide disabled access under local authority licensing powers.

Tavish Scott: Local authorities have discretionary powers under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 to determine the specification of vehicles which they will license as a taxi or private hire car having regard to the type, size and design of the vehicle and whether it is safe for use. The Scottish Executive has encouraged local authorities to use those discretionary powers to improve the accessibility of taxis to disabled people.